After it was first commissioned by the BBC over two years ago, we now finally know who will be heading up the long-awaited adaptation of Kaliane Bradley’s bestselling novel The Ministry of Time.
It has been announced that Aoife Hinds and Billy Howle are set to lead the epic sci-fi-romance thriller, which is being produced by A24 and has now kicked off filming in and around London.
Hinds is best known for her roles in Normal People, Dune: Prophecy, The Long Call and Secret Service.
She has been confirmed to star as civil servant Sophy. Fans of the original novel will know that the British Cambodian protagonist who narrates the story is never given a name, so it seems that the new adaptation will supply one for its main character.
Howle, recently seen in The Perfect Couple and Under the Banner of Heaven, takes on the role of Victorian polar explorer Commander Graham Gore.
Kaliane Bradley and the cover of her debut novel The Ministry of Time. Robert Christian/Hodder & Stoughton
The six-part series is adapted by Alice Birch, whose notable screen credits include Normal People, The End We Start From and Dead Ringers. Aneil Karia, whose work includes this year’s Riz Ahmed-led Hamlet, The Long Goodbye and Surge, serves as lead director.
The official synopsis for the series reads: “The Ministry of Time is a newly established government department gathering ‘expats’ from across history in an experiment to test the viability of time-travel.
“Our heroine Sophy achieves a hard-fought promotion in the civil service, only to learn that her role is to help a time traveller acclimatise to the modern world as part of a top-secret Ministry programme.
“Commander Graham Gore is a Victorian polar explorer and one of several ‘expats’ from history who are now part of the Ministry’s extraordinary experiment. The professional friendship between Sophy and Graham develops into an intense forbidden romance that reveals the transporting power of love across centuries, just as the sinister nature of the Ministry’s true intentions increasingly puts them in danger.”
There is currently no word on who will be playing any of the other characters, including fellow expats Maggie and Arthur, and the Ministry’s vice-secretary Adela.
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Bradley’s 2024 novel became a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, winning over fans with its exploration of time travel and history, as well as themes including race, imperialism, gender, sexuality and climate change.
On the announcement of the series leads, author Bradley said: “This is very exciting and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. If I could travel back in time six years to tell past me what was going to happen with that polar explorer she’d just started writing about, I think she would have done some very Victorian swooning.”
Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, also commented: “The Ministry of Time is a truly distinctive, genre-defying series with a beautiful central relationship and we are thrilled to have Aoife and Billy leading the cast. Kaliane Bradley has created two complex, compelling characters at the heart of this brilliant story, which has been beautifully adapted by Alice Birch. We can’t wait for BBC viewers to join us on this epic adventure.”
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The Ministry of Time is coming soon to BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time novel is available to buy now.
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